Building cladding panel

ABSTRACT

An improved building construction panel used to protect the outside surfaces of a building from all forms of weather related damage is formed from two layers of corrugated members bonded to either side of an intermediate insulative sheet. The subject panel is treated to be moisture proof, weather resistant, fire resistant, not attractive to insets, fungus and/or mold and uses only environmentally friendly materials. The construction of the subject panel promotes the rebounding of objects striking its outer surface without damage to the panel.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. The Field of the Invention

The present invention pertains to an improved building cladding panelfor use on roofs and/or walls of buildings to provide an outer surfacesubstantially impervious to any form of weather related damage,including rain, sleet, snow, and hail.

2. The Prior Art

There has been a long-standing problem in the roofing industry ofproviding roofing materials which not only have a substantial life time,but which will be resistant to damage from all forms of weather, such ashail. The annual damage to roofs by hail storms is significant and coststhe insurance industry a great amount of money in roof repairs and/orreplacements. What is needed is a building panel which not only providesthe required water resistance, but which will also provide protectionfor the roof, and other external surfaces of the building, from damagefrom other weather causes, such as hail and wind blown debris.

U.S. Pat. No. 2,091,918 to Finck show alternate layers of corrugatedpaper or cardboard separated by metal foil to form a roof insulatingmaterial. The outer surfaces of the thus constructed roofing panel aremetal foil and would be subject to damage by hail, wind blown debris,and the like.

U.S. Pat. No. 2,029,679 to Seving et al shown, in FIG. 7, an embodimentof insulation comprising layers of corrugated material separated by foilsheets. The outer layers are formed of a transparent material loadedwith metal particles and air bubbles.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,041,219 to Steck shows, in FIG. 11, an arrangementsomewhat similar to that of Seving et al in that it is clad with metalsheets.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,507,347 to Lupton shows the combination of a foil sheetand a corrugated sheet formed as a laminate for roofing. This inventionemploys corrugated PVC sheeting as the intermediate member.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,561,959 to Alderman et al describes an apparatus forforming insulated roofing similar to that described in the above notedpatents.

U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2002/0108349 and PCT PublicationWO 99/04966 both show insulative panel arrangements using honeycombsrather than corrugations.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The subject invention relates to an improved building construction panelused to protect the outside surfaces of a building from all forms ofweather related damage. The subject panel is treated to be moistureproof, weather resistant, fire resistant, not attractive to insets,fungus and/or mold and uses only environmentally friendly materials. Theconstruction of the subject panel promotes the rebounding of objectsstriking its outer surface without damage to the panel.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will now be described with reference to theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a section through the building panel of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a building panel formed in accordancewith the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring now to the drawings, FIG. 1 is a section through a buildingpanel 10 constructed in accordance with the principles of the presentinvention. The panel is formed as a laminate by a first corrugatedmember 12, an intermediate foil layer 14, a second corrugated member 16,and outer foil layers 18, 20. The corrugated members 12 and 16 areformed of preferably double walled composition material, paper, orplastics material treated to have water repelling characteristics, fireretardant characteristics, anti-fungal and anti-mold characteristics.Most importantly for the present invention, the outer foils providerebound characteristics for objects striking the panel.

Preferably the subject panel 10 will be made with one member 12 or 16 oftest “B” fluting (corrugations ⅛″ apart, or 8 per inch) and the othermember 12 or 16 of test “C” fluting (corrugations {fraction (5/32)}″apart or 5 per inch). Each of these members would have a burstingstrength of approximately 200 pounds. When laminated together, they areapproximately {fraction (5/16)}″ thick and have a bursting strength ofmore than 350 pounds. With the intermediate foil layer 14 between themembers 12, 16, and the outer foils applied, the resulting panel hassuperior rebounding characteristics, sound proofing, and insulativequalities.

The outer facing side of the panel 10 can also be coated with a nylonwebbing or waterproof latex coating (neither of which has been shown).The addition of the webbing or coating will increase the strength of thepanel as well as improve the rebounding characteristics.

The rebounding characteristic is import to the invention in that onesurface foil of the panel is constructed in such manner as to causeanything striking the panel, such as hail and/or small wind blowndebris, to rebound from the surface of the panel without causing dentingand/or any other damage to the surface. Thus the panel will be able towithstand, for example, a hail storm without sustaining permanent andunsightly damage to the panel.

Preferably the subject panel is treated to be water proof fungus andmold resistant, as well as fire retardant.

It should further be noted that the subject invention provides a roofingpanel which has improved insulating characteristics as well as sounddampening characteristics.

The present invention may be subject to many modifications and changeswithout departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof.The present embodiment should therefor be considered in all respects asillustrative and not restrictive of the scope of the subject inventionas defined by the appended claims.

1. An improved building structural panel comprising: a first member ofstiff corrugated material; an intermediate sheet of insulative material;and a second member of stiff corrugated material, said corrugatedmembers being bonded to opposite sides of said intermediate sheet.
 2. Animproved building structural panel according to claim 1 wherein saidcorrugated members are formed from plastics material.
 3. An improvedbuilding construction panel according to claim 1 wherein: saidcorrugated members are formed from wood pulp product.
 4. An improvedbuilding construction panel according to claim 1 wherein said corrugatedmembers are bonded to said intermediate sheet with the corrugationsrunning normal to each other.
 5. An improved building construction panelaccording to claim 1 wherein said corrugated members are bonded to saidintermediate sheet with the corrugations running parallel to each other.6. An improved building construction panel according to claim 1 whereinsaid corrugated members are coated with a fungicide.
 7. An improvedbuilding construction panel according to claim 1 wherein said corrugatedmembers are coated with a fire retardant material.
 8. An improvedbuilding construction panel according to claim 1 wherein said corrugatedmembers are coated with a mold defeating material.
 9. An improvedbuilding construction panel according to claim 1 wherein said corrugatedmembers are coated with a resilient material to promote rebounding ofobject striking said panel
 10. An improved building construction panelaccording to claim further comprising: a layer of resilient materialspanning the outer side of the outer corrugated member.
 11. An improvedbuilding construction panel according to claim 10 wherein said resilientmaterial is in the form of a fiber coating.
 12. An improved buildingconstruction panel according to claim 1 wherein said resilient materialclosely adheres to the shape of the corrugated member.
 13. An improvedbuilding construction panel according to claim 1 wherein said resilientmaterial spans the peaks of the corrugated member.